MISENHEIMER, N.C. – Pfeiffer University hit a school-record .494 in a 3-0 (25-21, 25-18, 25-20) thumping of Mount Olive College, the two-time defending league champs, in Conference Carolinas men’s volleyball action on Tuesday night. The Falcons, who hit over .500 in two of the three sets, clinch their first-ever playoff spot improving to 17-6 overall, 7-1 in league while the loss sends the Trojans to 15-13, 6-3.

Pfeiffer put three players in double-figure kills while all six starters had a hitting percentage no lower than .400. Back-to-back kills from Quentin Moore (Richmond, VA) and David Frazee (West Palm Beach, FL) put the hosts up for good early on at 3-2 while moving to a 12-7 lead on Caleb Brophy’s (Mission Viejo, CA) first kill of the evening. The Falcons maintained a healthy lead until back-to-back putdowns by Adam Miracle (Cincinnati, OH) got Mount Olive to within two at 22-20. The Trojans would tally just one more point from there as Brophy, Michael McLaughlin (Aliquippa, PA) and Moore slammed down the set’s final kills for an early 1-0 match advantage.

Brophy would again give the Falcons an early lead as set two got underway. The lead for good came soon after another McLaughlin kill at 6-5. Pfeiffer would capitalize on Trojan miscues midway through the middle set while McLaughlin, Konstantin Weise (Berlin, GERMANY) and Moore put the Falcons up 17-14. The hosts would cruise the rest of the way in set two as a kill and service ace on the last point by Frazee put Pfeiffer up 2-0.

In the final set, Mount Olive raced out to an 8-6 lead thanks to John Nunns’ (Fayetteville, NC) only kill of the night before two more Brophy kills, a pair of Trojan errors and an ace by David Specian (Loxahatchee, FL) put the Falcons up for the final time at 11-9. Out of a Mount Olive timeout, McLaughlin would put down another kill while Specian immediately followed with another ace. Miracle tried to keep the visitors close with a pair of kills to make it 14-12 but Brophy and Moore would take over, registering the match’s final two kills in the sweep.

Brophy led all hitters with 13 kills on the night hitting .524 in the win. Moore and McLaughin each followed with 10 averaging to hit .469. Specian assisted 40 times in the win while leading the way with six digs. Pfeiffer also recorded 11 team blocks adding to their already-broken school-record for blocks in a season. Miracle led the Trojans with an even dozen kills.

Pfeiffer, who needed just 59 minutes to dispose of the Trojans, can clinch home court advantage for the Conference Carolinas semifinals with a win on Saturday against Lees-McRae. The top four league finishers will advance to the league tournament. Match time on Saturday has been moved up 30 minutes to 1:30 p.m.